OK, uppity new bloggers like myself should probably tread gently when questioning the more revered conservative voices. But, unfortunately for me, that is not in my character.

Viking Pundit has a post questioning John Cole’s recent attempt to defend Durbin from the worst of his well deserved criticism. Viking is quite mild in his comment. I cannot be.

What Cole misses the point and the fact completely.

No matter how many times you say it, he did not call our soldiers Nazis. He just didn’t. It was a stupid remark to make given that he had to know it would be distorted, but there is no way to claim he called the troops Nazis unless you just see whatever you want to see.

Cole is focusing on the political game in DC and, to a smaller extent, America in general. What Durbin did was equate GITMO, and therefore America, with Nazi’s. And everyone understood the unspecified connection. Speech and communication is much more than the literal translation of the words, and Cole should understand this.

The damage was how our enemies took this comment, as an admission by a US leader that the US was the second coming of Nazi’s and Despot Communist dictators. Check the last update in my previous post and the date of this post. Dick Durbin had plenty of time to correct any misunderstandings and say what Cole only wishes he meant to say. But Durbin never did – not once. And all his apologies to date have been apologies to those saps who did not understand what he meant to say (as opposed to what he did say).

I have one question: Is John Cole simply agreeing with Durbin that we foolish, over-reactors did not understand what Durbin said?? Is he kidding? I hate to pop your balloon Mr. Cole (pun intended), but Durbin apologized because the polls told him he had to – not because he did not mean what we know he said.